Admit it, the facial recognition technology used by RoboCop in the movie is pretty badass, as he managed to effortlessly identify a wanted criminal among the crowd. Interestingly, this technology is now being used by the police force in China.
According to Shanghaiist, the policemen positioned at train stations will be rocking cool-looking glasses that are equipped with facial recognition technology. At first glance, these glasses look like the Google Glass, but they’re actually connected straight to the police database.
Source: shanghaiist
Source: shanghaiist
This means that the black-tinted spectacles can screen passengers and cross-check their personal details with that of criminal suspects on the database. In fact, at least seven suspected criminals and 26 fake ID holders were reportedly caught using this government-developed glasses in just two months! How cool!
On top of that, officers back in the police command centre can see what the personnel in the field are seeing. Here’s what the command centre looks like:
Source: twitter
This sophisticated technology is also being used in Guizhou’s massive network of surveillance cameras. To find out just how effective these cameras are, a BBC reporter, John requested his image to be flagged by the authorities to see how long it takes to find him.
The results were astonishing. In just seven minutes, John walked into a building and was immediately approached by policemen as his image raised the alarm in the control room. Impressive right?
Source: shanghaiist
As of now, China already has over 170 million CCTV cameras in operation, and some other 400 million will be installed in the next three years. These ‘eyes’ can match your ID card with your face, and your face with your car. Any discrepancy can potentially land you in trouble.
Source: shangaiist
It can also be used to track one’s movement over the week and record all the people they have socialised with. So canggih!
If this technology is proven to be effective in a big country like China, then theoretically it should work even better in a relatively small country like Malaysia. The question is – are we ready for it?
Tell us what you think in the comment section!
Also read: Primary School Installs CCTVs in Classrooms for Parents to Monitor Their Children
